Run a pipeline that tells the truth

A pipeline is a record of potential work and the decisions still required before it becomes an accepted engagement. Its purpose is to support action and planning. A large total is not useful if it combines a casual enquiry, an unreviewed proposal and a signed agreement as though they were equally certain.

Fieldnote needs a pipeline that two people can maintain while doing the work. A spreadsheet can be sufficient at this scale if its definitions are clear and its records are kept current. Software becomes useful when it solves an actual coordination problem; it cannot supply evidence the team has not collected.

Define stages by evidence

Choose a small set of states that match your decisions. For each state, specify what must be known and what would permit movement. A stage called “nearly there” gives different people too much room to interpret confidence as progress.

These are proposed working definitions for this example, not a universal sales model. A purchase order, deposit or other condition may be necessary before a particular business reserves capacity or begins work. Record those conditions separately so “accepted” does not silently mean “cash received” or “ready to start”.

Allow opportunities to move backwards when evidence changes. If a customer requests an entirely different scope, an old accepted price should not continue to support the forecast for the new work. Preserve the history and record the new decision needed.

Keep the next action visible

For each open opportunity, record the responsible person, next action, intended date and reason that action matters. “Follow up” is incomplete. “Ask whether the owner has approved the service inclusions before preparing the final scope” identifies a decision dependency.

Use dates agreed with the customer where possible. If the customer expects to review a proposal after a board meeting, repeated messages before the meeting add little. If the date passes, ask whether circumstances have changed and whether a revised decision date is useful. Silence should remain missing information, not be converted into acceptance.

Ageing means the time an opportunity has spent open or in its current state. It helps locate stalled decisions. An old opportunity is not automatically lost: procurement, seasonal work or funding may explain the delay. But it should have a current reason to remain active. Move indefinite possibilities out of the active workload view rather than keeping them there to make the total look healthy.

Compare the same group over time

Suppose a fictional group of 20 enquiries has reached a review date. Eight were assessed as suitable, five of those received offers, and three offers have been accepted. For this example, all three accepted offers are for A$3,600 packages.

The observed ratios are:

• Suitable enquiries: 8 ÷ 20 = 40%.
• Offers among suitable enquiries: 5 ÷ 8 = 62.5%.
• Accepted offers among offers issued: 3 ÷ 5 = 60% at this review date.
• Accepted engagements among all enquiries: 3 ÷ 20 = 15% at this review date.

The two remaining offers are still open, so the final acceptance rate for this group is not yet known. The small counts also make the percentages unstable. One additional acceptance would change the offer acceptance ratio from 60% to 80%. Report counts alongside percentages and avoid presenting this example as a benchmark.

A cohort is a group defined by a common starting condition, such as enquiries received in a particular month. Comparing offers issued this month with acceptances this month can be misleading if those acceptances came from older enquiries. Use a defined cohort when investigating conversion, and use a separate current-period view for workload and cash decisions.

Separate value, forecast and money

Three accepted packages have a combined fee value of A$10,800. That is not a statement that A$10,800 has been invoiced, received or earned for accounting purposes. Each of those events has its own conditions and timing.

For an illustrative scenario, Fieldnote assigns a judgemental 40% probability to each of the two open A$3,600 offers. Their weighted value is 2 × A$3,600 × 0.4 = A$2,880. Adding it to accepted fee value produces A$13,680 as a scenario total.

That arithmetic does not validate the 40% assumption. The business has too little evidence here to treat it as a calibrated probability. Nor will it literally receive A$1,440 from each open offer because of that weighting: each customer may accept, decline or change the scope. Use scenarios such as neither, one or both accepting when planning capacity. Use actual payment schedules and realistic receipt dates when planning cash.

Review exceptions, not every field

A short weekly discussion can focus on changed evidence, overdue actions, capacity pressure and cash exposure. Ask which opportunity requires a decision now and what information would change the decision. Do not spend the whole meeting reciting the same unchanged rows.

For Harbour Services, the important update may be that the owner has approved the input documents but the original training date has moved. That affects scope readiness and scheduling. A new marketing contact in the record may be less urgent. Prioritising consequences keeps the review useful.

Record why work was declined or lost in language supported by evidence. “Customer chose to handle the update internally” is more informative than “price objection” when no price discussion established that explanation. Include your own decision to decline work; otherwise the data describes only customer choices and hides your selection process.

Exercise: audit five open opportunities

For each, identify the last observable customer action, the next decision, its owner and any start conditions not yet met. Remove unsupported certainty from the forecast. Then check whether the dates in the pipeline agree with the capacity and cash views.

A useful pipeline makes uncertainty visible early enough to act. Once an engagement is accepted, the next responsibility is to carry the exact promise into delivery.